Crossing Time
by Hiasobi
Summary: Battousai. Tomoe. Misao. The story that was never told. A love that trancends time. [a girl without origin] How history never changes. [She wonders if she has broken the boy.]
1. Prologue

**Things You Need To Know:**

1. This is an **Alternate Universe** fiction. So _please_ do not come complaining to me later on about how: a) it's not possible b) the CANON is not like that c) it's different from the anime/manga! This is FanFICTION, and to be different from the Canon is the point.

2. This has an alternate pairing, as indicated in the summery, so if it's not your cup of tea, turn back now instead of reading it and then complaining, which just makes you look stupid since I put a warning here.

3. As the title of this fic implies, there is a time cross with the characters. If you don't like those kinds of fiction, please also turn back now. If this is a bit confusing with the jumping around in time and non-names, don't worry. There will be a time line for this fic out in chapter 4 or so, after the events have happened.

4. There is spoilers here for Kenshin's past if you have not read/watched that part about Tomoe yet. I tried to stick as close to the original as possible, but once again, please take the above Note 1. into consideration.

5. If something really, really, really doesn't make sense even with your imagination on full run, then please leave me a note with your email then I will either a) fix it, or b) email you and explain.

6. I do not have a beta and I do writing in my free time, it's too inconsistant for me to have a steady beta, also since I drabble in many different fandoms. I try my best but I can't guarantee that I caught all spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

7. Good reviews help. Objective criticism helps. Biased flaming that I am not writing your favoured pairing does not. I appreciate any feedback you might have.

8. This is dedicated to all the supports and fellow fans of the alternate pairing in this fic.

: - :

On another note, I am not a mean writer nor am I unapproachable. I am friendly, and female (I put that there because I am mistaken as a male writer many a-times for some reason), and very open minded. Feel free to read my other fictions and visit my Livejournal to leave other feedback.

Enjoy the story :)

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

She felt like liquid, and she was slowly melting into the deep dark chasm that was the world beyond her closed eyes. Her mind felt fuzzy, and her whole body felt like it was slowly dissolving as it moved her from one place to the next. From one second to the next.

: -:

Carpe diem, the poet had said, quad minimum credula postero: Take the present, don't put any faith in the future

: -:

_Edo 1861_

The streets were muddy, and the rain fell heavily onto the ground. The droplets splashed painfully against the rooftops, windows, and the barren Earth. As if the attraction between the Heavens and the land it overlooked had become too much.

It obscured everything from view: the rain, the gloom, and the dark clouds had shut away the sun. As the time of night that it was now, the sun no longer even hid beyond the grey floating masses in the sky, and the moon had yet to shred a single light upon the lowly plain that the race of Men walked on.

Like a broken anthem, the beat of the rain crashing down on the many objects created it's own music. Rapid. Melodic. Haunting.

Inside the curtain of rain, in an alleyway of two houses that had seen better times, but were still quite hospitable, laid a bundle on the ground. Wet, silent, and pale. Nothing moved from inside that alleyway, nothing that most would have ventured in for to check, but one person did.

Had.

He stood over the bundle. Getting soaked. Water running down the entire lines of his body. His fine silk clothes on the verge of being ruined beyond repair.

He stood still with wide eyes staring down at the bundle, hope and light shining in his eyes. And the most gentle smile on his lips as he knelt down and reached out towards the dark and pale bundle.

" Nee-san?"

: -:

I saw light that day  
And I still can't remember enough to describe how bright it was

: -:

She blinked awake, her eyes fluttering open as shakily and nervously as the wings of a butterfly. Delicate. Fragile. Beautiful. She stared up at the small boy, crouching down close to her, his fingers gently shaking her form awake.

" Nee-san?"

The little boy smiled, dimples appearing at the sides of his cheeks. His dark eyes and dark hair faded in and out of her vision.

She wanted to sleep more.

Much more.

She wasn't sure if she ever wanted to wake up.

" Nee-san." The boy said again, his voice almost a whine now. " Wake up, Nee-san. I finally found you. So let's go home already. I don't want to play hide-and-seek anymore."

She didn't understand him, she understood his words, she understood the language, but she couldn't understand his meaning.

She didn't remember this little boy. She didn't remember her home. She didn't remember playing a game. She didn't remember anything.

The little boy slid his hand up to her cheek, and cupped her face towards him. He spoke with a solemn face.

" Nee-san. Let's go home." He dimpled again. " Kaa-san and Tou-san might be very worried by now."

He stood up, and she followed him, pushing herself up on shaky hands and standing on shakier legs.

The child looked up to her in approval. " That's it, Nee-san. Let's go home now. I hope you don't get sick, you've been in the rain for a long time."

The deep black cloak, which had been on her shoulders, slid to the ground in a heavy slop. Before it reach the ground it snagged at her hair, but she didn't react at all as the clip holding the longs strands of her dark hair together, came loose and fell as well. The once warm exterior was soaked through with the old rain, and dirtied now by the ground. She stared down at the boy, waiting.

He bent over and picked up the heavy garment, slinging it awkwardly over his arm as he had seen his father do with such clothes in occasion. He ignored that it was too heavy, wet, and large for him to carry. He also picked up the clip and stuck it into his pocket. He simply smiled up at her and reached out to take one of her hands into his.

" Let's go home now, Nee-san." He said softly. " You've been away for too long."

She didn't care where he was taking her. She had no idea where the 'home' was at all. She let him lead her out of the alley and down the empty, raining streets. Her long hair, which had been kept bound in a style she forgot the name for, slowly came loose as she walked. The long, wild strands threatened to bellow out behind if the wind became any fiercer.

" You're going to have to cut your hair." The boy said from in front of her. " It's way too long."

She did not respond. She did not give any indications she heard. She simply followed him.

: -:

I wanted to see the moon  
Shining in all its glory   
Beaming with it's borrowed light

: -:

For the next while, she was like a doll. When they reach 'home', a big and luxurious mansion, she simply followed his instructions. Take of her shoes. Take a towel from the maid over there. Don't fuss if she comes to help you. Say " Tadaima." And smile for okaa-san and otou-san.

The lady and the man that came to greet them at the door stared with solemn faces and worried eyes. They greeted her with a nod and glanced worriedly at the dimpling boy. She stared up at them with blank eyes.

Over the next few days, inquires were made about her. She knew that, but couldn't really get herself to feel anything for the situation at all. She knew questions were being asked: where had she been in the last few days? Where had she been found? How had she ended up there?

No answers were forthcoming, and after a few days, the household settled into a more lax air. The okaa-san and otou-san had decided life went on, and sending the police away, they went to talk to the two children alone.

They found them in the nursery, the hairstylists had come and gone earlier, and now she had a new hairstyle. Shorter than before, but not too short, it framed her face and tied loosely down her back with a ribbon.

She was like a living doll, simply breathing and doing nothing else. The doctor had come and gone as well, and had pronounced her physically well as she could be after spending a few hours in the rain. She simply needed to eat and exercise to gain back her strength, and to sleep.

She looked up from her perch at the window seated in a chair, donned in a beautiful sakura themed kimono, with the sunlight shining down on her. On her lap sat the little boy, seated sideways and toying with a book, barely interested in reading as she turned it in all angles in front of him.

He dimpled at the couple in front of him, and they smiled unsurely back. The man told them that the bad period was over, that everything was fine now. Now they wanted to share their first family dinner for a while now together with their son. And their daughter, they added as they looked at her.

She simply cocked her head in reply, but joined them for the meal all the same.

It was a start.

For over the next few days, they sat with her at the dining table during meal times, and in the nursery at odd hours during the day as they played with the son. As they stared at the boy, they would speak. To her, about their daughter.

The okaa-san would talk about how willowy and graceful she had been. How close they were, how no secrets has ever come between the two of them. The okaa-san would speak about the childhood years and what had been happening recently that she needed to know about. The okaa-san would often, try to make conversation.

The otou-san would come later in the day, in the night hours after he could get away from his desk and all the paper work. He would talk about himself, the okaa-san, and the little boy. He would speak of the summer days before, and the times they had spent happily as a family. The otou-san, told her they wanted their daughter back.

The little boy, her younger brother, would smile at her and talk to her all day about nothing and everything. He would look up at her and tell her jokes and memories, and all the things she couldn't remember because that night in the rain, he said. He would play with her, teach her games she never planned to participate in, and crawl all over her. Sitting in her lap, tugging at her skirt, napping in her arms because he refused to nap elsewhere. And the whole time calling her "Nee-san."

Weeks passed and the events dragged on. Slowly the household adjusted and things settled into an - if not comfortable than - predictable timetable. The okaa-san started to go out again, to shop, to see her friends, to apply her hours elsewhere outside of the home in which security wasn't needed to be as tight anymore.

The otou-san started to go on trips, a day or two each time, for political reasons and gatherings for his career. He was a politician and he wanted to show his support, to which side, she never asked or remembered.

The boy tagged at her footsteps, tripping over his own clothes as he ran circles around her. He laughed and giggled, ran and sprinted, jumped and tumbled. He lived his life within her sight every minute of everyday.

And slowly the void didn't feel consume her whole anymore, the emptiness was slightly filled up, and the seconds weren't desperately counted as she waited for something she did not know. The chains around her heart slowly unwound just a little bit.

Slowly she began to smile again.

Tentatively. Hesitantly. Miraculously.

The first time she smiled in the vicinity of the okaa-san, the older woman cried. So overwhelmed that she was, she ran out of the nursery choking on sobs as the boy continued playing while she kept smiling down at him. Both unaware of the absence of another.

The otou-san was better prepared, his wife had told him of the event. He had come silently, stealthily, hiding behind the curtains of his room as he watched the two walk in the wide protected garden on his property. His heir was laughing, the girl smiling gently.

And his throat felt raw, and dry. And he thought maybe they were getting their daughter back. Somehow, they might have the chance to recover what they had lost.

Months came and went, a year passed. They had a party for the son as he turned another year older. A month later they had a surprise party for her, telling her she was 14 now. Her younger bother was 5.

She did not argue with them about her age, because it felt right, and since they were her family, they should know. They lived for the rest of the new year in bliss as a family.

But then the war got worse; he family was in danger because of it. The otou-san didn't want his family endangered if he could help it. The okaa-san and him stayed up late nights arguing about plans and what to do. In the end, it settled into a mutual agreement.

The little boy was sent off to a province in the east, away from the fighting, and was to be schooled there to be able to take his father's position when he inherits. She was to be sent equally far away and safe, to be schooled in manners on how to be the perfect lady, for she must become a bride in the future.

She and the little boy didn't want to be separated from the family and from each other, but after many assurances that the separation was to be brief, and that they could always talk to each other by mail (the son could get someone else to write his letters), they left still a little unsure.

The son's journey was long and tedious, and at one point he felt like something was wrong and he wanted to run back home and to his Nee-san, but he convinced himself that would make him appear weak and he continued on with the journey. When he reached his destination, he was so tired he slept for the first few days. And after that he was very busy with his studies, he did not get a chance to have a letter written until a month later.

Half way on her journey, her head started hurting. Flashes of light appeared before her closed eyelids, and she often felt weak and faded in and out of consciousness. She wasn't sure what was happening, and once she felt so weak she had to stop the carriage to go and heave on the side of the road.

It was during that time that they were ambushed. Bandits jumped out from the bushes and attacked her procession. She ran into the forest, leaving the belongings behind as she ran in fear. She was never sure if she had been running from something or to something at that point, because everything started to get blurry, and she left like she was melting into liquid. And she vaguely seemed to remember feeling like this once before but she couldn't recall.

When the schoolmistress standing outside her school waiting, never saw the carriage come over the hill, she dismissed it. Highbred ladies ran away and back home all the time halfway into the journey. They didn't have the heart or courage to be separated from their families. She simply walked back into her office and scratched out the Lord's name whom the child was sired from.

The little boy waited for a reply from his sister but a month passed and no mail came. His teachers told him that it might take a month's time just for the letter to reach the lady, and then another month to get a reply. So he waited, and in the mean time, wrote and received letters from his parents. Whom when he asked, replied that letters get lost all the time, and especially in such upheaval times, it might take months for it to simply reach the daughter.

So it wasn't until 6 months later when the parents and the son received a letter, written and sent by the schoolmistress telling them that the girl never arrived at the school, did they panic. And they did, severely.

And it was another 2 weeks before the otou-san found out that the carriage had been attacked by bandits, robbed, and all the servants killed. The okaa-san cried in despair, but the otou-san said to hope, because the daughter's body was not among the dead. The son held out desperate hope, because he refused to let himself believe otherwise.

They organized search parties and the otou-san used every resource he could to try and find the daughter. They search long and hard, and after another 6 months, they finally found her.

She lay on the roadside: frail, weak, and pale, trembling from the cold. She was brought into town and the runner who found her was heavily rewarded. She was checked by the doctor again, had her hair cut, and was set to recover.

When asked what had happened to her in the past year, she responded that she remembered nothing. She only remembered running into the forest, fear, and then...the sinking melting feeling and the nothing.

The family didn't like it. It took her another 3 month's to recover fully, but the family felt insecure. They were afraid they would lose her again. This time they tried to tie her down.

They gave her a name.

The otou-san and okaa-san had a name.

Her younger brother had a name.

And in the months she was sick, a gentleman came and went to visit her. He was nice. He was kind. He made her smile. She in turn, tried to do all the same for him.

One day, he came to talk to the otou-san, and the family, grateful for another tie to keep her here, agreed to his request for her hand in marriage.

The gentleman had a name.

And Kiyosato came to see her every day afterwards.

: -:  
And in the moonbeams so elusive  
I threaten to disappear completely

: -:

**END PROLOGUE**


	2. Chapter One

Note: All dialogue and actions in relation to Tomoe and Battousai are taken straight from the **Manga**. If you feel the need to complain, please go read the Manga.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

_Edo, 1863_

She talked to him, smiled and laughed, and her happy face was such a beautiful sight to okaa-san and otou-san. They felt better, more secure, more sure because this time she wouldn't leave - couldn't without telling them, because this time she had something to come back to. Slowly they flung open the doors of their hearts and let her in totally. And she in turn did the same thing.

She took the key to her heart and unlocked the door. She welcomed them to the place they had never had managed to find the entrance to before. This time she smiled and it shone. This time she laughed and it came from her heart. This time she was happy and she was brilliant with it.

When she walked down the stairs, someone was always there to greet her. When she walked in the garden, the brother was always with her. When she ventured out to the streets, the whole family went. The otou-san, the okaa-san, the brother and Kiyosato always surrounded her. She was surrounded by love. She was surrounded by happiness.

As days and days passed in this unending joyfulness she let herself go. She got accustomed to the love. To the hair swinging free from behind her, to the soft, quiet humming inside of her. She got accustomed to the happiness.

Kiyosato spent more and more time at the home, speaking with the otou-san and okaa-san about the marriage, about the plans to allow her to stay close after the wedding, and about teaching the young brother to study at home so they wouldn't have to send him away anymore. It was a glorious time. Everyone was happy and joyous.

But happiness never lasts.

Unused to such feelings, her smile grew stiff. The joy exhausted her body and she slowly began to grow reserved in showing her affections. Kiyosato looked to her pensively many times, before he announced to the family he would need to delay the wedding for a time. He would be going to Kyoto as part of the Patrol there.

One day Kiyosato left for the trip, one he assured the family that would only take a small while. Then he would be back. So they gave him gifts. So the brother gave him of list of stuff to bring back. So she had smiled gently and given him the first shy hug. So they waved him off. So they watched him leave.

So they grieved when they received news that he wouldn't be coming back. Ever.

The otou-san and okaa-san absorbed the news silently, comforted each other, knowing that such events were not rare in such unsettled times.

The son went first into shock, then the rage, the anger, the disbelief, the pain, then and then the tears.

The daughter held him while he cried and screamed about how unfair it was. She held him until he fell into an exhausted sleep every night. She hugged him and kissed his forehead and whispered soft melodies. She took care of him, and loved him and the family more than ever because the love she held for Kiyosato had nowhere to go anymore.

She cried for a while, but then she stopped and the tears wouldn't come. She went out secretly at night and asked for information about what happened. She searched and as she passed the villagers, they remembered how she had smiled and laughed, and how in love the two had been. It had been a tragic fate to befall such a happy couple. People remembered the happiness the two had shared, and because they themselves have had such a shattering truth befall themselves before, they helped her. They gave her any kind of help they could. They asked each other and they found her the lead she needed to go off on her own to start a bigger search.

The Hitokiri Battousai.

The man in the shadows of the rebellion they said. The man that would know the most they said. The man she would seek out they decided. The man who spilled the blood of those he killed everywhere. The man she would kill she decided.

Barely 17 and she decided she was to become a murderer. But she was just one woman, just one civilian, - just one person who wouldn't be able to go up against such a force. So she sought help. She went looking for others who might lend her their power, who might have more information that would bring the murderer down.

When she finally found them, they were not as she had thought they would be. A bunch of men who shared her dislike of the man she sought. A bunch of ruffians who didn't have many morals, but they were willing to help her. To lend her information. To help her scheme and become the killer she had planned to be.

So they helped her. They gave her what she needed. They told her were to find him. And she followed the trail wherever it lead. It had led her away from home. The okaa-san and otou-san hadn't wanted her to go and the little boy had clung on tight to her, but she had asked to give her one-year to deal with her grief as she may. She accepted the money and small gifts they gave her for her travels, but she never told them where exactly where she was going - or what she was planning to do.

She ended up in a tavern one night in Kyoto. She saw him at the back table even if she didn't show it. The brilliants red hair that was so distant in these parts. People looked up when she walked in, but she has long been used to the stares. She walked towards the empty table by him and sat down.

She turned her back to him because she didn't know what she would have done if she kept staring. Kiyosato's warm hands and gentle smile lingered around her memories. The heat of her heart as it shattered and the red anger were close. Emotions, feelings, things she hadn't felt so intensely before. She ordered cold sake because being sober was something she learned to hate. At least, the nothingness she could deal with, she was familiar with.

It had been all she had in the beginning and it seemed like it was all that she could keep. Love slipped through her fingers like sand, time washed her along like waves, and the grief - the grief so unfamiliar and painful.

It was easier to deal with the nothingness; the stage where everything felt like liquid.

The sake washed down and chilled the rising anger. The blank numb state came back and her lips curved slightly. The two men that came with boisterous voices were not worth her attention, but she was calmly surprised that he would have done something.

Coins hitting the table and then his small frame walking through the door.

He was but a child. _The kid's pretty strong. _His body was so small compared to his reputation. _A warrior - ... - maybe? _But no matter what, this child was what she had come here for.

: - :

Like the voice smothered in the dark  
Secrets are buried more heavily and deeply then you know

: - :

She finished her sake in silence, placed her monies on the table and left. She walked the streets and heard sounds coming from the side. All she heard apart from the sounds of swords was the Hitokiri Battousai's name, and she knows when she turns the corner, whomever still stands is the one she is seeking.

It's the first time she has seen so much blood but her mind is numb and nothing will surprise her anymore. She stops not from the blood splattering her; there is something familiar about the scent of blood. She stops because there is something she has to say, the okaa-san and otou-san had taught her manners and she had to be sure.

His back is stiff and he seems to be shocked and scared, but she doesn't really care.

" I want to thank you for what you did back there..." He turns around, the small body all wiry, face frozen. " Usually blood is showered in tragic scenes... But you are the one who showers blood everywhere, aren't you..."

The sword slips from the youth's hand and she knows.

She's finally found him after so many days of searching and staying up. Her body is tired and because she's found him, she finally gives into the command of rest.

The numbness becomes darkness.

When she wakes, he is asleep. The little boy lost in dreams, and she remembers the other younger little boy she left behind so she won't wake him. She folds the futon quietly, slips out of the room silently and knows she can't leave, not yet. She found him but she has not done anything to accomplish her goal yet.

This is an inn. There is work to be done.

She counts on that as well as the work to keep her from slipping into the red. She's been washed and so has everything that was stained last night. She gets it all back from an old lady who calls her Himura's girl but she doesn't mind.

She hasn't minded anything since Kiyosato.

She hears footsteps running towards the kitchen and the little boy's voice shouting but she doesn't mind those either. The older lady is asking her to do something.

" Please take this to Matsu-san's room, okay?"

" Okay."

The girl walks down the hallway and the boy joins her soon. The lunchboxes are only slightly heavy on her hands and Kiyosato had always paid attention to those things.

" Um..."

Kiyosato who was dead and would never smile and take whatever she was carrying and help deliver them just so he could be close to her.

" You want my name? It's Tomoe." The girl wonders if it had been on Kiyosato's lips when he died.

" Well, Tomoe. What are you doing?"

" What do you think I'm doing?"

" ...helping in the kitchen...?"

" Good guess."

" We need to talk."

" I'm busy. Can you do it later?" She shifts the weight of the food awkwardly and reaches for the door. " Sorry to have kept your breakfast waiting!"

The men stare and exclaim, but that is nothing new to her either.

" I'm Tomoe. Please to meet you all."

The little boy is angry for being ignored, and again the girl thinks of the other younger boy she's left behind.

_...he's still the Battousai._

She hands out the boxes and walks away.

It's later when they have the talk. He calls her name as she sits having her lunch in the room.

" Yes...?"

" Well...I want you to forget last night. I'd like you to be on your way."

" Am I bothering you here? Okami-san seems to like me here..."

" ...Your family is worried right?"

" If I had family to go to...I wouldn't be getting drunk every night, would I?"

The girl who had nothing had walked away from everything to come seek this boy.

" Well, we wouldn't be able to care for you right now at all here."

" Then why don't you finish me off now? Like the dark samurai you were last night...?" And the night before, and the night before, and the night before, and the night that time 6 months ago.

" Think what you want, but I kill for a new time in which people can live peacefully. It's like I don't kill regardless who it is. I kill the shogunate's armies. But even if the townspeople are my enemies, I would never attack one that's unarmed."

So her beloved had kept his sword with him to the end, but he hadn't wanted to die by it. He had wanted to lay the sword down and come home to her, just not fast enough. The girl puts the chopsticks down as the will to eat leaves.

" So you'd kill good and bad people if they had a sword? And if I had a katana in my hands right now... You would..." She gathers up the meal and walks away. " Someday. If you ever find the answer to that question, let me know."

Two weeks pass as she cooks and cleans and sleeps in the same room as the boy who killed her beloved and whom she will kill in the end. He hasn't left a single night yet.

Tonight, he is late and the girl doesn't ask where he is because no one has met her eyes all day. She finds him in the kitchen later when she hears noises of the front door sliding.

He is silent and washing his hands. He won't meet her eyes either and she knows and is reminded.

" At this point...Do you still plan on killing people forever?"

She walks away from the young boy who is more a young man. There is a knock on her door later that week on a night where she is alone.

" Yes?"

" May I Interrupt you for a awhile?"

" If you need Himura-san, he's gone out tonight..." More blood split.

" Yes I know. I'm his boss. I coordinate everything that Himura does."

: - :

Slowly, slowly  
Let's sink into the quicksand   
There are more secrets buried than you will ever know

: - :

The girl stares at this man, whom maybe is the one who really deserves to be killed but yet, he wasn't the one who had to wash off Kiyosato's blood from his hands.

The man explains everything about the _Disorder_ and sips his tea.

" But as for Himura, he may have the cruellest role of all...as the 'guard' of the 'disorder'."

" Well... Having said that, what do you expect me to do?"

" Well, I don't expect you to do much. I just thought I'd tell you what we were doing, that's all. Excuse me."

The girl picks up the pencil and writes in the diary she has kept ever since she had been found. She won't think much, not yet. Downstairs she hears the young man clean his hands, but she won't go to him. The boy is not justified. Not yet.

It happens next week, when she comes to the room and the boy is asleep leaning on the open windowsill. His form is small and insubstantial.

_This is disorder's guard... But... just looking at his face...I can see a boy that hasn't grown up yet..._

The girl moves to cover him because there is another boy she has taken care of before who naps at irregular places.

There is nothing calm in his face when he grabs her. There is only wild and savage tiredness and desperation. The girl's heart jumps, and it's the first time that she can remember she's afraid of death.

_Why?_

The boy pushes her away and he is sweating. His shoulders are slumped and his breath is heavy. She recognizes the signs on him of all that she's been fighting inside herself.

" I'm so sorry... I brag about not killing people of the town, but I almost just did that... Please leave. If you don't I might actually..."

The shawl is still in the girl's hands and she flings it at him. " You need something to suppress the madness, so I'll stay here for a little while longer..."

" To answer the question you had...about me killing you... The answer is 'No'. No matter what the circumstances, I won't hurt you. Not you... Not ever..."

She wonders if she has broken the boy. It is a couple of days later when Iidzuka-san walks in on one of the boy's naps. He walks away upon he discovery and the boy wakes up a mere moment later.

" What's the matter? Iidzuka-san was just here."

Shouts and report and they have lost the leader, the man whom dictated Himura's nights away from the girl. The group goes into hiding aimlessly for a month while the reband. She is not interested in the boy's and the man's discussion at the bridge, she is barely thinking. She knows there will be changes, but she is used to wandering.

" Tomoe-kun."

" Yes?"

" If you have nowhere to go...why don't you stay with Himura?"

Stay with the man who killed Kiyosato. Stay with the boy half descending into madness.

" A young couple is more deceiving than a single man. I don't mind if it's just a cover-up. But take care..."

Stay with he who washes his hands in silent desperation and sleeps with her in the room like it is the only haven left.

" - of Himura."

" What should I do? " The girl looks at the boy. "I have nowhere else to go..."

" That's not true. We'll probably need some money, so be prepared." She stares at him.

Stay with this person who's killed many others with families and lover and who promises to never kill this girl who had nothing.

" Crap." The girl is startled for a moment. The dignified boy swears. " You're leaving this up to me then... Let's stay together, since I have nothing else to do." The boy looks at her, eyes clear. " I don't know how long it'll last though..."

Stay with this boy

" But not for cover up."

Who promises the girl who had nothing, everything.

" But for the both of us..."

And she knows. She knows something is changing inside of her and it would never be the same again.

**Until Death Do Us Part.**

. : - : .

_Tokyo, 1881_

Years in the future, Makimachi Misao jerks upright in her bed in an inn and stumbles off the futon. She races across the room, pushing the shoji door open and bends over the chamber pot. Her whole body shakes as she heaves everything she's eaten over the past few days out of her body. She stays there, bent over, trying to force everything out and stays a few moments longer to make sure there's nothing left.

She stumbles back across the room to reach for the glass of water on the table and goes to rinse her mouth. She gurgles and spits the used water into the pot as well. She lifts the filled jar out into the hallway and pulls the bell to let a maid know to come collect the foul smelling remains of her meals.

She watches the shadow of the maid cross the hallway of the inn from inside her shoji doors and she waits until the servant is gone completely before she stumble over to the washing basin. She dunks her face in the water and splashes more upward when she pulls back.

She looks up at the mirrors, and although the front of her white sleeping yukata is wet and there is water running down everywhere of her face, it still doesn't hid the red-rimmed eyes and the tear streaked cheeks and the evidences that she had been crying.

She looks to the left to where on the surface of the table lays a set of kunai, her day uniform, and the set of bound sheets of paper where the legend of the _boy - youth - young man_ is recorded.

And she closes her eyes as she remembers.

: - :

**END CHAPTER ONE**


	3. Chapter Two

Author's Note: Finally, the plot line's picking up after this chapter.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

_Countryside, outside of Kyoto, December 1864_

It has been 5 months since they have run and hidden in away in the rural village. The community had accepted them as another couple that had lost all of their possessions and family members in the uprising in the capital. Now they were starting over again as in the countryside, growing herbs and grain.

The community came by when they moved in, to meet and greet the newcomers. Since the time they had moved in, the young man had become quite popular with the children from the village. And by association, so had she.

The girl, now a woman, missed the little brother she had left behind. The children reminded her so much of the little boy who talked, ran and played with overflowing energy that was only possible from the really young. The boys loved to play fight, acting out imaginary scenes with sticks, and the girls would run after each other for ribbons and toys.

The young man, Kenshin, now her husband, spent the days coveting with the children when possible. The days away from the pressure of the ever-present orders hanging over his head seemed to let him hold his shoulders higher. The time away from the sight of blood allowed him to enjoy life a bit more. He wasn't a Hitokiri anymore, now he was simply medicine man for the community.

The children were, as often, playing outside of their hut. They came over almost everyday, the girls having a natural tendency to sidle up to the woman, even if she did not speak or play much. The boys were loud and roughhousing with each other.

" I'm home..."

The young man's voice came from the distance and the children ran to greet him with enthusiasm. She watched him, as the children jumped on him and threw their toys at him. His face went from went from pensive to annoyance, indulgent, to gentleness as he smiled at those assembled before him.

Soon the children were running back on the path back to the village centre as the young man, her husband sent them away with the assurances that he would be there to play with them on the morrow.

" I'm sorry. I really do love children, but..." her little brother... " I'm not used to smiling too much." The young boy child had never had a problem with the girl's stoic face.

" Ha ha." The young man, her husband laughed gently as they walked toward the hut entrance.

The young woman looked at his small back, shoulders free of the ever-present tension they had been strung with in Kyoto. " Speaking of smiling..." He turned to her and she met his eyes. " You've been doing it...a lot, lately, haven't you?"

He paused and looked down introspectively. " Yes... That's true..." His eyes closed in remembrance. " I was born into a peasant farmer family and lost them when I was 10. Then there was the vigorous training with Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu... Whenever I would talk with others, there was no exchange of smiles at all... Having learned the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu I will fight...even kill for a new peaceful era. The truth is, it's not like I didn't know what happiness was..." He looked up and smiled at her, glowing in the setting sun. " Whatever I fought for before, what I fight for now... These past 5 months have helped my thoughts a great deal."

A shadow of ominous feeling passed through the young lady. A young boy, then a Hitokiri, now a young man, her husband who could smile so freely. Soft pain settled on her, a simple regret, and the most complex of wishes. Along with all the others who had become important to her...she wanted to protect that smile.

The children came back the next day and stayed until late afternoon as the girl started to make dinner inside the hut. The boys were playing at being samurai once again and the girls stood to the side to watch. The young woman ignored the activities until she heard her husband's raised voice. Then she looked up through the small cooking window to see the newcomer, and she raced out towards the doorway.

" Enishi?!" The woman called out. " Enishi...is that' you?" Her little brother...

" Nee-san!!" The new child's face lit up with a smile.

The young boy ran up to hug her around the waist. She looked up into her husband's shocked eyes and she indicated they should talk inside. She stood behind the little boy so precious to her, hands on his tiny shoulders, so much wider since she had seen them last.

" This is my little brother...Enishi." The young lady introduced the man to the boy.

" Ah, now I get it. You're brother, eh?" her husband walked towards her and extended a hand to pat the boy's head. " I see. Well, once we've talked we'll work things ou-" The child waited for the young man's hand to come close enough and bite down on it. " OUCH!"

She reached and pulled the boy away from the young man, shocked a bit at the display.

" Since you two probably want to catch up, I'll leave for a while." The husband offered with a smile and walked out cradling his wounded hand. Once outside, he gathered up the village children and led them to a spot further away from the home.

The girl bent down to rest her forehead against the little boy's. Warm feeling washed through her: joy, relief, and happiness.

" It's been a while." She said as she stood back on her feet. " Quite a surprise...but I'm happy to see you, anyway." The little boy smiled a smile that filled his whole face with his joy. " You must be very hungry. I'll be fixing some dinner soon okay?" She attended to the pot of steaming rice. " When did you come from Edo? And how is otou-san doing?"

" No idea...I came her about a year after you went to Kyoto..."

She paused. That would have been around the same time Kiyosato had passed away and she had engaged in gathering information on the Hitokiri. "...Enishi. Where are you living now?" She turned to question the boy. " And how did you know that I was here? Especially since I have not told anyone else..." Anyone else except for them...

The little boy's smile was sly. " I'd know even if I wasn't contacted. I'm an informant." The smiled turned darker. " Don't worry...it's time for you to be happy, Nee-san!! Let's punish Battousai!!"

She dropped the wooden spoon to brace herself on the ground. " Enishi... You didn't..."

" You didn't hear? Strange." The little boy's smile was light again and honestly puzzled. " Didn't the old man you met with tell you?"

Words came flashing back to her. _When the time is right, you will send 'it' to us. Don't ask details. Just remain close to the Battousai and keep him in you sights always... Have him in your grasp so you can read every one of his mental thoughts. When you discover his weak point, our mutual goals will succeed..._

The words now took on new meaning to the young lady. New understanding of what they were trying to do, to use her for. And now they ever had her little brother in their hands.

" C'mon, Nee-san!! We can end all of this right now!!" The little boy's words were filled with zealous.

" Edo..." The woman whispered. " Go back to Edo..."

" Eh?" The boy said.

" You're the heir of the Yukishiro family... And...I can't let you do such a horrible thing." The fault was supposed to lay on her shoulders only...an unknown girl of no origin that could not shame the family or anyone else.

" WHO CARES ABOUT OUR FAMILY!! I CARE ABOUT YOU, NEE-SAN!! THAT'S WHY I'M HERE!!"

Yes, that was they way it had always been. The little boy had found the girl. The little boy had brought the girl home .The little boy had given her a place to stay. The little boy had given her a name, an identity, and a place to belong. The little boy had led the girl to happiness.

" Go back to Edo, Enishi."

Silence and then the little boy's words slowly rising in crescendo.

" What? What is wrong? You won't come...but why? Why are you defending him?!! He's you're enemy isn't he? **He's the one that made you unhappy!!!**"

The young man had been the Hitokiri Battousai. The young man had been the one who killed Kiyosato. The young man had blood on his hands. The young man had slept with a sword in his arms and madness on his horizon. The young man who had had broken eyes, desperation in his being, and promised that no matter what he would not be able to bring himself to kill her. The young man who had offered her everything. Who was her husband; who smiled glowingly against the sunrise, noon light, afternoon sun, and the sunset.

The woman did not reply.

The little boy's shoulders shook in suppressed anger and stormed out of the hut as the young girl sat staring at the wooden boards, wondering if she could be redeemed.

After a few moments, she got up quietly and walked towards the table. She opened her book and started writing. She wrote her thoughts in ink, putting the day down in writing. This was what she did. For the little girl who had nothing, she wanted to record everything she later had so she would never forget them, and lose them.

It seemed like she was trading in one boy for another: her brother for her husband. She couldn't have them both it seemed. Her little brother would never forgive her, never let her go and belong to another man. The boy had tolerated Kiyosato because he made her smile and promised she would be close to home. And her husband, the young man who did not know her at all but placed her precious in his heart. She did not want to let go of him, and his affections. Her husband who's new smiles which might mean too much to her.

" Say...Where the heck is he going...?"

The words startled the girl and she slammed her book closed, cradling it next to her. The young man's eyes meet hers startled.

" What's wrong?" He questioned.

" Oh, nothing..." She said. " Oh, but Enishi...he's going back to Edo."

" Edo...hm..."

She looked at the small back, where an entire era's burden lay. " We've never talked before, have we? Do you wonder about me? You know nothing about me..." But... " ...But... now might be a good time for it... If you don't mind...can we talk for a while?" I want you to know me...

: - :

Dawn's rays are usually  
The most awaited

: - :

The young man stood by the doorway, staring up through the wooden bars to the night. " Looks like it's getting cold out... Snowing... This is the first snow of the season."

The young man was offering the girl a chance to change her mind, to lighten the pressure of his hopeful expectations. She closed her eyes.

" As I've said, my real family is in Edo." Her family...the family that had taken her in... " There are three of us in the family," Okaa-san was not wed to her otou-san, otou-san did not have the funds to pay the bridle gifts to her high honourable family. " and we lived in peace. We have money, but we aren't wealthy... We also had trouble getting food, but it's not like we're in poverty." In truth, okaa-san was Enishi's aunt.

" My otousan wasn't a great warrior, but he was kind to everyone..." She raised the teapot to pour her husband some tea. " My hahaue was also very kind, but she died giving birth to Enishi." Or this was what okaa-san and otou-san said, and what her little brother told her. " Enishi never knew his own hahaue...but since I always took care of him, he thinks of me as his hahaue. To Enishi, I am both his Nee-san as well as hahaue." What a sad little boy... " He's a cute brother, really... He has a bad temper, so I can see why he bites people's hands sometimes. But he really hated my arranged marriage...That's when the problems began..."

A gust of cold wind chill blew in from the open doorway, bringing snow into the hut. The girl sensed the young man's, her husband's, shock at the mention of a previous marriage. She stood gently with the teacup head in her hands and walked over to him.

" Here." She offered it to his still form.

Slowly the man reached out and took it from the girl.

" My fiancee was the next in line for succeeding another shogun family. He was a childhood friend who was very nice to people just like my father. When he chose me to be married to him... I was very happy, since I truly liked him a lot. But... even though I was very happy... I only opened my eyes widely. Eventually, I began to hate the idea of it. I couldn't smile...I guess he never knew I was happy.

He said, 'My position as the inheritor of an Imperial family doesn't make you happy. I will be recognized by others as a great warrior!!' With that, he put off the wedding, which created some problems. Then he joined the Kyoto Patrol." _And headed off to the violence in Kyoto...and he never returned..._

Her silence made it clear what had happened to the man she had been promised too.

" I didn't wait to hear any news. So I went to Kyoto..." _And I devoted myself to killing you... _" Somewhere in Kyoto, my fiancee died..." the words were getting harder to get out... her hands fisted into the front of her kimono. " And then... my happiness went with him. But, in reality...it was all my fault..." If only she had been able to smile for him...

" I might have been able to stop him by crying... But I'll never know... I just feel like if I don't hate someone...something, I'll go crazy..." She wonders if he understands now. The young man was not stupid by any means, just idealistic, as she had come to learn.

The young woman wonders if he will hate her later on, when he finds out all he has not been told. She stands, pushing back tears, when she is startled as he pulls her into his embrace.

" It's okay... Don't worry... It'll be okay..."

The words were soft, and the girl knew they were lies, but she couldn't stop herself from leaning into his warmth and letting go of the tears that overwhelmed her. She cried again for the first time since she had ran out of tears for Kiyosato.

Later after she has used up her energy and is exhausted, the young man and woman are wrapped in a blanket to block out the cold and to share their warmth.

" About a year or so ago..." the young man starts. " I got into an argument with my Shishou, and I left him to go and protect the people who were being slaughtered. So then, I joined the Choshu Ishin Shishi, and became Hitokiri Battousai. I could I could use Hiten Mitsurugi Tyu to aid people..."

The young woman turned to look gently at the lost boy.

" But it couldn't. No matter how many I kill, a new era isn't coming. I just end up being a killer over and over. The scent of blood never left me... That's when I had just met you."

The young men did not meet the woman's eyes.

" The questions you asked me made me forgot about the blood... Also my insanity left me." _It's not longer the smell of blood. It's white plums..._" And since I've lived with you... I know what happiness is to the people I protect. And now, for the first time, I realize what people struggle for and what they are happy for. Hiten Mitusrugi Ryu is impressive, but no matter how good I am... I can't make a new era by myself. And I can never grant anyone's happiness..."

The girl watched as the boy lifted his eyes to the far wall, indigo orbs clear and strong. " But what I can do is help people that are in need one by one..."

The fire crackled in front of them, sending small sparks that died off.

" For now..." _I will kill...until the new era arrives...I will probably be near the top of the corpses I made._ " It may sound strange, but when the new era is here, I won't kill and I want to protect others. And while I do, I will try to find a way to make up for the sins I've committed..."

_So young...but growing strong..._ The girl looked at man she chose for a husband. He was idealistic as ever, but she hoped his wishes would come to pass.

" ...Tomoe..."

" Yes?"

" For all the pain and suffering you've had to experience during the past years... I will protect you from all of it in the future."

The young woman looked at the young man, he did not meet her eyes but the look of conviction was clear in his eyes. A smile, soft and beautiful, bloomed from the happiness flowing within her once more. " Okay."

They went to sleep soon after, the emotional tales draining of their energy.

: - :

And sometimes the sun casts -  
Unnecessary shadows

: - :

The morning came and the countryside was covered in a blanket of white snow. The young women closed her book after finishing her entry, and leaving her daily dairy on the table, reached to put on her outer clothes and shawl. She glanced back to the sleeping form of her husband.

_I became lonely because of a man... _Her gaze was gently, loving. _But this man is different..._ She walked to the doorway and slid the wooden boards. She stepped out into the cold and turned to face him. _He is a killer...But...He protects more people that he has killed... _Softly, but firm, a conviction comes from within her. I will not let you die here now...

" Farewell." She smiled, eyes tender and sad. " My Second Beloved."

The young woman closed the door behind her, separating the young man from her with a sense of finality.

Her steps were steady as she passed through the forest. She met up with the men she had found before to be her allies in finding the Hitokiri Battousai. She does not answer the first man but waited until they bring her to the one she has made a deal with. She was a day late in reporting and they demand an explanation from her, but not yet.

" Answer me one thing first..." The woman said, " Why...why did you involve Enishi in this?"

" That wasn't our doing. He kept asking about you in Kyoto, and they got sick of him, so sent him over to us. So we told him about your whereabouts and how your fiancee was dead. Now tell us what you know." The leader's blank gaze was harsh, glaring out at her.

The young woman did not answer. She stood silent in front of the three assembled men.

" Come on, what is it?" the one holding an axe prodded.

" And don't say you don't know, either. You lived with him for what, a year now? So tell us." The other minion commanded.

" Well?" The old man demanded.

She gazed down at the ground. " Himura...Battousai's weak point is..." She closed her eyes. _His kindness isn't suited to being a killer..._ " 'When he is sleeping.' Regardless, all swordsmen are caught by surprise when they are asleep, and he is no exception." She hopes he is prepared wither her there for distraction.

The old man smiled. " Okay, I ask you now... Is he in love with you?"

She took a step back. " Why do you ask that? It has nothing to do with..." He has affections for her certainly - love, she is unsure of.

" Actually, I think you'll find it has a great deal to do with it. If the Battousai really does love you, he'll most likely come here to get you back. Also, this forest is at our advantage. It jumps our chances of winning a great deal. We've also sent him a letter. He's no doubt red with fury at this very moment."

" It' can't be... Then from the very beginning you had..." ..._wanted to use me as the Battousai's weak point!_

" That wasn't the original plan, however... But it assured me a method of getting him. You know what? **We're not as nice as you think.**"

The young girl was washed over with dread. _Oh, god... I was a fool, and led him into a deadly trap..._ She reached behind her to the hidden short blade in her obi. _But before then...! I must take one with me...!_

She turned, but before she could attack and large arm came and knocked her into darkness.

Some time later a large shout of sound awoke the young girl. " Nnn..." Slowly her consciousness came back. Her head was swimming, her thoughts scattered. " ...Hm?" _Where am I?_

" What's going on?" She glanced about and saw her drawn dagger, she couldn't remember drawing it. _And what...am I doing here?_

Crashes and scuffles came from outside the door of the shabby cabin she was in. " They're fighting out there." She got up. She couldn't remember thing, but everything inside of her pushed her to her feet and drove her to the door. " Out there." An urgent feeling swan inside her. _Out there..._

She pushed the door open, to see Kiyosato standing with a drawn blade, like she had never seen him in life. " Eh?" She rubbed her eyes as she slowly remembered that Kiyosato was dead, and it was not possible for her to see him anymore. When she opened her eyes again, her vision was filled with an anguished face, bright red hair, and shining indigo eyes. Standing in Kiyosato's place was the young man who was her husband, Kenshin.

_I see... _The memories slowly unwound themselves to her. Kiyosato's stiletto appeared, the one man who knew her not to be the original daughter, had a chance to be with the original daughter, but chose to love her, the nameless girl anyways. _I couldn't stop him from dying... _Then the face of the young man now in front of her, body worn and bloody, standing in front of her beaten down because he cared for her, because he came for her. _And I risked everything to see him dead..._

The small shoulders, which carried a weight too heavy for them. The young man who was growing up to be strong. The arms what held her warmly through the night. The man who said he would never be able to kill her. The husband who promised to protect her.

_But then I fell in love with him. _He brought her happiness back when she thought was it was no longer possible. _I must not let my Beloved die again. _She closed her eyes gently. So... She opened them to stare at the young man whom she would never be able to see grow up to the strong man he was going to become. She smiled, once more, the smile she had lost but he had given back to her.

Kenshin, the man she loved, was running with the last of his strength towards the old man. If the treacherous man attacked or evaded the strike, Kenshin would die. The girl waited and then ran out and grabbed the old man in place so the blow would end both their lives, and save the young man's.

There was pain, almost beyond bearing, but it would soon be over. Her husband took her into his arms, tears running down those smooth childish cheeks.

" Tomoe...Tomoe..." His young voice was choked. " Why...Why?"

He looked so young, so lost. She reached up tenderly, and brushed the tears away. She ignored the cut her dagger has made on his cheek as it fell from her hands. She left her mark on him. She hopes it never fades.

The name, the name she never took into herself because it was someone else's name. Because everyone knew that it was not her name. But for him, for Kenshin, she had always been Tomoe. And here, dying, she is Tomoe.

_" It's all right...Please don't cry..." _

It wasn't a sad ending. He loved her, and she loved him. They were both forgiven for their sins. They loved each other beyond what was dictated. Her only regret was she couldn't tell him who she was. Whom she couldn't remember she was. She wanted to tell him her own name. She smiled for him, filled with her happiness and love, hoping he would carry her with him always.

And from somewhere deep within her, from the depths of crossing time, it comes...she remembers...her own name..._Makimachi Misao._

Happiness and sadness coursed through her, because she remembered now, but she couldn't change anything, and she doesn't have the strength to tell him anymore...how much she loves him...who she is...how much she'll always love him...

" To...mo..."

Soft tears gathered at her eyes, and she wanted to tell him how proud she is of the man he will become, and how much she'll always love the man he is.

_I love you, Himura Kenshin. My Hitokiri Battousai. _

Her consciousness fades.

: - :

Carpe diem, the poet had said, quad minimum credula postero

: - :

She felt like liquid, and she was slowly melting into the deep dark chasm that was the world beyond her closed eyes. Her mind felt fuzzy, and her whole body felt like it was slowly dissolving as it moved her from one place to the next. From one second to the next.

: - :

Take the present, don't put any faith in the future

: - :

**END CHAPTER TWO**


End file.
